Why Are Some Theaters Refusing To Screen ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’?

It’s hard to find fault with Disney. Not only are their original properties wildly successful, but the studio also owns Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm LTD, three of the most successful sub-studios in the business with a veritable license to print money. But has Disney gotten too big for its red britches? It seems so. Even though ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ will most likely be the top movie of the final quarter of this year and possibly all of 2017, it should keep going strong into 2018. But Disney doesn’t seem happy with that and it seems that theaters– and their patrons– will be the ones to suffer.

First of all, Disney is demanding 65% of the revenue from ticket sales. The standard is 55-60% of domestic ticket sales and 40% foreign. (They got 64% for both ‘The Force Awakens’ and ‘Rogue One’.) But there is also an additional penalty. Disney is demanding that multiplexes screen ‘The Last Jedi’ in their largest theater(s) for four weeks. If a certain multiplex fails to do so, Disney’s cut from all sales jumps to 70%.

That means if a certain theater wants to devote four screens to ‘The Last Jedi’ for opening weekend, they’re stuck running it on those same four screens for a month. If sales are sluggish after the initial rush and they decide to drop some screens, they have to cough up the extra 10% for Disney. That also means that for four weeks no other big movies can get shown in those bigger theaters, including IMAX and other large format screens.

This is especially crippling to small theaters in smaller areas. While most urban multiplexes have a dozen or more screens, in some small towns, theaters may only have two. That means that if they want to show ‘The Last Jedi’, they’re stuck with it monopolizing one screen for a month, with them unable to show any newer movies.

So theater owners are stuck having to decide whether or not they pay more to Disney just to show ‘The Last Jedi’ in the first place, they also have to wrestle with the financial hit they will be faced with, should ‘Star Wars’ ticket sales dwindle after a couple of weeks. Do they pay the extra 10% to Disney or do they just keep showing ‘The Last Jedi’ for the four week requirement even if it stops bringing in big crowds?

Some theaters aren’t standing for these demands and have simply decided not to show ‘The Last Jedi’, although an exact number hasn’t been released. It’s very possible that they could come out ahead by simply offering a bigger assortment of movies and switching them out, rather than taking the possible financial hit of showing this ‘Star Wars’ film.

What do you think? Should theaters simply give in to Disney in order to deliver this hotly anticipated film to the fans? Or do you support their decision to pass?

At any rate, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ will open in SOME theaters on December 15.

Jason Motes

Jason's earliest memory is of watching 'Batman,' followed shortly by a memory of playing Batman & Robin with a friend, which entailed running outside in just their underwear and towels as capes. When adults told them they couldn't run around outside in their underwear, both boys promptly whipped theirs off and ran around in just capes. Jason's father gamely agreed to read him comic books as bedtime stories instead of 'Snow White.' (Super Friends being his favorite.) Jason saw all of the original Star Wars movies (and Indiana Jones and Superman and Star Trek...) in the theaters. Yes, he is old. And grew up in the most GEEKTASTIC decade ever, the 80s, devouring a steady diet of GI Joe, Transformers, Masters of the Universe, Princess of Power and (best of all) Jem! (It totally counts as sci fi! They had a sentient computer that projected holograms!) Jason has studied literature, journalism, film history and has a degree in creative writing (and a minor in psychology) from the University of South Alabama. He has worked as a technical writer and proofreader. These days, most of his creative energy goes into his blog and writing for this site! He lives with the cutest puppies ever.

When I was younger, it was normal for a movie to stay in the theater several months. On the rare occasion that I even considered going to a movie, it would be at least 3 months after the premier. Pretty sure I saw the movie the first time I saw the first Star Wars movie was more than 6 months after the premier.

misterpl

There were a lot fewer movies released back then.

Nico C.

It also took more then a year for a movie to get a home video release. I’m pretty sure Batman Returns took 2 years to come out on VHS, or at least it felt that long. Back then you couldn’t say, “I’ll just wait for it to come out on DVD”.

misterpl

This is why concession prices are so expensive. Theaters don’t have to share those profits with anyone else. Thank George Lucas, who started this with the prequel trilogy as a way to keep his movies in theaters longer.

angelamontenegro

First thing: No on can find fault with Disney? Are you kidding me? Do you live in a cave?

And second: Why the article doesn’t say is that for the first seven days of a feature film’s release, the studio gets 90% of the ticket sales and the theaters get the remaining 10%. The theater also makes bank on the concession stand so they still make a big profit the first week of a popular film’s release, but the studio gets the lions share before the bottom drops out and it goes down to about 50-50 or for some studios 60-40. Disney demanding 65% even though they know they will make a ton of money going down to the more normal split range shows how Disney love to screw people over.